News:
December 3, 2019
Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu has taken a swipe at President Nana Akufo-Addo for unilaterally announcing the withdrawal of the December 17th 2019 referendum.
According to the Minority Leader, the President has engaged in an unacceptable breach of the very constitution he sworn to uphold.
“Nana Akufo-Addo is not the Electoral Commission of Ghana and is neither cloth with the mandate as an Executive President to interfere with the work of the EC”, he said a press conference on Monday 2nd of December 2019.
He backed his point by referring to Article 46 of the 1992 Constitution, “except as produce in this constitution and any other law not inconsistent with this constitution in the performance of its function EC shall not be subjected to the control of anybody in authority. We in the Minority find the unilateral usurpation of the powers of the EC in withdrawing the referendum question unacceptable”.
The Minority Leader further pointed out that it is reported that the President instructed the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Alima Mahama to abort the process of referendum in Parliament.
“He needs to be reminded that the sponsor of the process is the learned Attorney General and all the bills introduced is under her signature and pen and not the Local Government Minister, where is he getting that from he needs to be advised accordingly”.
Again, in April 2017, he said he engaged all the former Presidents and also the Minority Leadership, “let me remind him that neither him nor any of the former President represent the sovereign or sovereignty of Ghana”.
The sovereignty of Ghana is vested in Article one of the constitution by the following provision, “the sovereignty of Ghana resides in the people of Ghana in whose name an welfare the power of authority is supposed to be exercise in the manner laid down in the constitution”,
Again, he revealed that in the United Kingdom the British Parliament is sovereign but it is not the case in Ghana’s Parliament, sovereign will of the people of Ghana is the question of a referendum.
“People should have a say and input in the referendum, that denial amount to lynching of the rule of law, the President is engaging in constitutional lynching of the rule of law”.
Mr. Haruna Iddrisu emphasised that if President Nana Akufo-Addo had consulted him he would not have come to Parliament with amendment only on Article 243 (1) of the constitution, “that is inadequate, insufficient and not exhaustive enough, we drew the attention of the Majority in the debate”.
In addition, we can have a partisan District Assembly system, we can have a non-partisan Assembly system and have elections conducted within a non-partisan system and further pointed out that the Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) has not betrayed the President but rather he contradicted himself with the various Articles he used in introducing the Bill in Parliament.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com